Village Roadshow indicates September launch for DC Rivals HyperCoaster and reveals upcoming attractions for Sea World

The latest investor presentation by Village Roadshows points to a September launch for Movie World's DC Rivals HyperCoaster. The company has also announced several new attractions for Sea World including an "interactive splash zone" in October and a new seal show in December.

Image: Parkz. DC Rivals HyperCoaster at Movie World is set "to be launched in a spectacular way in September" according to the latest release from Village Roadshow.

By Richard Wilson
5 September 2017

As Warner Bros. Movie World puts finishing touches on DC Rivals HyperCoaster their largest attraction ever, the focus looks set to shift towards smaller, family attractions at Sea World for the rest of the 2018 financial year. Village Roadshow's investor presentation from August 24 lists a number of new attractions and initiatives as the company looks to move out from the dark cloud hanging over the industry since the tragic accident at competitor theme park Dreamworld.

Rivals launching in September

Plans seem well underway for a September launch in this latest presentation from Village Roadshow.

To be launched in a spectacular way in September

Village Roadshow Limited investor presentation, August 2017

With testing well underway and the roller coaster's station, queue and surrounding themed area nearing completion, it's likely that the ride will be up and running this month. This latest release from the theme park's owners makes this all but certain. Themeparks.com.au, VRTP's website however (perhaps conservatively) still suggests that Rivals will open in October.

Interactive splash zone for Sea World

Sea World look set fill in much of the space previously occupied by their water park with an interactive splash zone.

New Seal Show

Fish Detective has been operating since 2007 and Sea World looks set to give the show an overhaul before the end of 2017. Historically the seal shows at Sea World follow a fairly similar pattern owing to the limited number of skills that can be taught to the featured animals, but Sea World has delivered a string of successful shows in this genre targeted at young families.

Sea Jellies

Sea Jellies was announced earlier in 2017, but Village have reaffirmed its Easter 2018 opening.

Topgolf on track for mid-2018

The opening date for Topgolf was pushed back from late-2017 but construction is progressing slowly as they work towards the new mid-2018 opening date.

Village Roadshow sees a promising start to 2018 financial year

On top of this roster of new attractions for the Gold Coast, Village have indicated that ticket sales are starting to recover after the tragic incident at Dreamworld which caused a significant slump in the last half of the 2017 financial year.

The Gold Coast theme parks finished the year down 8.6 per cent in attendance (from 5.43 million to 4.96 million) and 35 percent in EBITDA from $80.1 to $52 million.

The company believes that the current financial year will see an improvement on the significant downturn of 2017. Attendance for July 2017 was down only 4.5 per cent on the prior corresponding period, with the company noting that, "this was cycling an exceptionally strong July 2016".

There is no doubt that the Australian Theme Park market will recover from the tragedy at Dreamworld.

Dreamworld, which is owned by competitors Ardent Leisure, most recently reported a downturn of 30.5 per cent against the prior corresponding period for the month of June 2017. Ardent Leisure finished the 2017 financial year with an unprecedented loss of $3.4 million, a swing of 109.8 per cent against the previous year's EBITDA of $34.7 million.